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Joe Wood beats Walter Johnson to win |
ON THIS DATE (September 6, 1912) ...
A pitchers’ battle it surely was. Witnessed by 29,000 fans, the contest
was hot every moment, with only two consecutive doubles driven out by Tris Speaker and Duffy Lewis in Boston’s sixth
inning, after two were out, producing the only run that crossed the plate all afternoon.
All day it was hard, clean, crisp steady baseball, and a battle that
was all glory for Joe Wood to win, yet one that Johnson could lose
without a tinge of dissatisfaction over his great pitching.
The crowd packed the stands and
the bleachers and trooped all over the outfield inside the stand and
bleacher boundaries. The grandstand was packed a solid ten rows deep
with fans on tip-toes to see what was going on. The playing field was
surrounded by a triple, even quadruple rows of fans, at least 3,000
assembling on the banking in left field, and the mass extending
around in front of the grandstand. So thick were the spectators
massed, that it was impossible for the police to keep them back. The
players’ dugouts were abandoned, with the players bringing their
equipment out almost to the baselines.
It was remarkable that no one was hurt. One little boy was hit by a foul tip, and tenderly carried to the players’ locker room, but he soon insisted that he was “all right” and in a little while, he was back in his place again. Of course, what brought the big crowd was the promised battle between Joe Wood and Walter Johnson. Johnson was most anxious to show his prowess against the Red Sox favorite, while it was intimated that Wood wished some other Sox pitcher would pitch against Johnson, so that he might face Groom, and might have a better opportunity to win. Wood and therefore, might also have a more favorable chance to increase his record of straight victories. But whatever transpired so that Wood and Johnson came together, their meeting proved to be a classic. While both pitchers seemed to have their best at their command, neither team made even a semblance of an error, a little short passed ball by catcher Hick Cady of the Sox, being the only slipup of the day.
The big run that came in the sixth was hammered across the home plate and scored after two men were out. Harry Hooper started the inning by flying out and then Steve Yerkes grounded out. Johnson got Tris Speaker to go after a ball close to him, and then bent the ball over the outside corner for another strike before Speaker was aware of what had happened. It was on the next ball, that he gave Speaker a good one, and “Spoke” made one of his characteristic punches, lacing the ball like a bullet past third baseman Kid Foster, and racing to second base before Herbie Moran fielded the ball at the edge of the crowd in left field. Duffy Lewis was next, and the Washington outfield moved well over to the left. But Duffy crossed up everyone and swung hard at one of Johnson’s speediest balls and the ball shot off to right field. The ball sped away over Chick Gandil’s head and then began to drop toward the foul line. With one frantic plunge, right-fielder Joe Moeller dove after the ball. For an instant, it seemed that he had caught it, but the ball just touched his fingertips and dropped onto the grass. Speaker was almost across the plate when Moeller got to the ball. Lewis also was legging it around and was at second base when Moeller picked up the ball and shot it back into the infield, but Speaker was in with a run. In the first inning, Steve Yerkes singled but was forced by Speaker, who was thrown out trying to steal, and in the second when Larry Gardner and Clyde Engle grouped their singles, they remained stranded on second and first bases. In the fourth, Speaker received the only base on balls issued by Johnson and advanced on Lewis’ sacrifice hit before Gardner and Engle grounded out. Washington had many more chances than the Sox, but Wood held them. In the very first inning, Clyde Milan opened with a hit but immediately fell victim to a double play when Kid Foster bounced back straight to Wood. In the third, which Tom McBride opened with a double and was advanced by sacrifice, Wood again stopped them by smothering a slash from Walter Johnson and nipped McBride between third base and home. Wood then filled up the bases by passing both Milan and Foster, before whipping the ball over against Danny Moeller and striking him out. A hit and a pass put two Nationals on base in the fifth when there was one out, but neither Milan nor Foster could bring across the much-desired run. In the last four innings, three Nats saw second base, that was the farthest point to which they were advanced. In the seventh Frank Laporte doubled to right center just before Roy Moran fanned for the third out, and in the eighth Kid Foster singled and stole second, again with one man down, but only to see his teammates easily popping up outfield flies. Then in the ninth, when one run would tie the game, Laporte’s opening hit and Moran’s sacrifice helped not at all, as Wood finished the game by fanning both McBride and Eddie Ainsmith. The Red Sox won the game, but the question of whether Wood or Johnson is the greatest pitcher, remains unsolved. |
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